Positive Psychology

Theory of change

Change is consolidated when the person identifies resources and strengths, reorganises their interpretations and habits, and applies them repeatedly to actions that widen PERMA.

Core ideas

1. Well-being is a plural construct, not a single emotion

   Well-being theory abandons the idea that a single measure of happiness could define a good life. PERMA brings together positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning and accomplishment as elements that contribute to well-being, are pursued for their own sake and can be measured relatively independently; clinical formulation therefore needs to detect singular configurations rather than simply raising a global satisfaction score. (Seligman, 2011, Flourish.)

2. Reducing suffering and building well-being are complementary tasks

   Positive Psychology arose in order to widen the field of a discipline that had specialised in diagnosing and relieving deficits. The absence of symptoms does not guarantee positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning or accomplishment, so clinical work may require both the repair of harm and treatment of disorder, and the building of capacities and conditions for a life worth sustaining. (Seligman, 2018, The Hope Circuit; Seligman, 2011, Flourish.)

3. Flow shows that deep engagement organises optimal experience

   Flow describes a state of absorption in which a challenging yet manageable activity concentrates attention, offers clear goals and proximate feedback, temporarily reduces self-consciousness and alters the experience of time. Its clinical relevance lies in the fact that well-being does not depend only on feeling good passively: it is also built when skills are stretched in chosen tasks that have structure, challenge and intrinsic value. (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, Flow.)

4. Strengths become resources when exercised in real contexts

   Identifying strengths is not intended to produce generic self-praise, but to recognise capacities that can be put at the service of specific activities, decisions and relationships. The novel use of a signature strength can increase authenticity, energy, persistence and the sense of agency when it is matched to the context and overuse is avoided; a strength is confirmed in action, not merely in a questionnaire. (Peterson and Seligman, 2004, Character Strengths and Virtues; Seligman, 2011, Flourish.)

5. Learned optimism modifies explanations, not facts

   Work on explanatory style teaches people to detect how an adversity is interpreted as permanent, global and personal, and to subject that explanation to evidence, alternatives and usefulness. The clinical aim is to produce more specific and flexible inferences that restore room for action without denying risk, pain, injustice or responsibility; useful optimism is realistic, testable and compatible with complexity. (Seligman, 1991, Learned Optimism.)

6. Positive relationships are also strengthened by sharing what is good

   A protective bond is expressed not only in support in the face of suffering; it is also nourished by the capacity to communicate gratitude, celebrate others' achievements, respond with curiosity and take part in experiences of contribution. Interventions such as the gratitude visit or active constructive responding work on observable patterns of communication and allow the relationship to become a source of recognition, meaning and positive emotion. (Seligman, 2011, Flourish.)

7. Positive interventions work as contextual experiments

   Positive Psychology retains an experimental aspiration: practices are selected on the basis of a hypothesis about change, applied at specific doses and under specific conditions, and reviewed through data on experience, functioning and well-being. The available evidence shows heterogeneous effects dependent on continuity, personal fit and context, so responsible clinical practice avoids turning exercises such as gratitude or strengths into universal prescriptions. (Seligman, Steen, Park and Peterson, 2005, Positive Psychology Progress; Seligman, 2011, Flourish.)

8. Meaning organises well-being beyond immediate pleasure

   Meaning appears when a person recognises themselves as connected to and committed to something they perceive as larger than their immediate interest: a relationship, task, community, value, spiritual practice, body of knowledge or cause. This dimension explains why a worthwhile life may include effort, pain, renunciation and negative emotions without thereby losing direction or dignity. (Seligman, 2011, Flourish.)

9. Flourishing also depends on institutions and life conditions

   The founding programme of Positive Psychology was formulated on three levels: positive experiences, positive character and positive institutions. This architecture requires individual work to be situated within schools, organisations, families, communities and social conditions that widen or restrict opportunities for well-being, and prevents flourishing from being confused with a private responsibility isolated from context. (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, Positive Psychology: An Introduction; Seligman, 2018, The Hope Circuit.)

Influences

• Humanistic psychology (the third force)
• Eudaimonic philosophy and virtue ethics
• Empirical and experimental research on well-being
• Theory of learned helplessness and explanatory style
• Theory of flow and optimal experience
• Cognitive psychology
• Psychology of character strengths
• Research on resilience, relationships and intrinsic motivation

Key references

• Bryant, F. B., & Veroff, J. (2007). Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row.
• King, L. A. (2001). The health benefits of writing about life goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(7), 798–807.
• Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111–131.
• Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford University Press.
• Seligman, M. E. P. (1991). Learned Optimism. Alfred A. Knopf.
• Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being. Free Press.
• Seligman, M. E. P. (2018). The Hope Circuit: A Psychologist’s Journey from Helplessness to Optimism. PublicAffairs.
• Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–12.
• Seligman, M. E. P., Rashid, T., & Parks, A. C. (2006). Positive psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 61(8), 774–788.
• Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421.